. >> the process of threat assessment is, is more of an art than a science. oftentimes you're dealing, uh, with potential enemies whose thinking is obscure or whose inner thoughts are unavailable to you and you have to read the tea leaves in trying to divine what their actions might be. >> people want to make a choice, they want to say let's focus on the current problem, less on the future. so other people say let's focus on the future and not so much on the current problem and unfortunately we don't have that option, that's just not with the role the united states plays today. >> ultimately defending the country with less money will mean rethinking what defense really is. >> the old-fashioned establishment of national security still thinks that the world is all about nation-state conflicts. so climate change doesn't rank high, energy scarcity doesn't rank high, resource generally, global health issues. even financial management after 2008 still ranks far below the sort of old-fashioned, you know, country-versus-country conflict issues. that's changing, but i